Tastecard - £39.99 unknown renewal charge

[Jabloom]

Not sure if this is the right area.

 

 

My husband took out a tastecard for £1 for 3 months.

 

 

We've just been charged 39.99 renewal which we don't want.

 

 

TBH we didn't realise it was due and my husband rarely looks at his email.

 

 

I spoke to the bank and because it was taken by card they can't reverse it.

If I'd have known I would of cancelled as we really can't afford £40 ATM.

 

 

Spoke to tastecard and they've said tough as didn't cancel before the end of the trial.

 

 

To me they are putting us in a new contract though as sending a new card which we haven't received yet,

so I think we'd have the right to cancel but they say no.

Is there anything we can do?

[dx100uk]

banks talking rubbish.

 

 

you can cancel under the chargeback scheme and cancel the CPA too.

 

 

read these notes...

 

 

GENERAL NOTES ON CHARGEBACK & Continuous Payment Authority & BACS

.....

We have been telling people to put a letter into their bank instructing them

not to make any payments under any circumstances to these companies

.

http://whatconsumer.co.uk/visa-debit-chargeback/- it works!

usually this should be done using the number on your debit card

.

banks MUST follow written intructions from their customers !

.

CANCELLING YOUR DEBIT CARD DOES NOT STOP CPA'S

.

This fsa guide has now been updated:

.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/static/pubs/consumer_info/know_your_rights_guide.pdf

http://www.fca.org.uk/news/continuous-payment-authorities-your-right-to-cancel

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/unauthorised-payments-account

.

Here's the text:

.

Cancelling a regular

card payment:

.

When you give your credit or debit card details to a company and authorise them to take regular payments from your account,

such as for a gym membership or magazine subscription,

it is known as a ‘recurring transaction’ or ‘continuous payment authority’.

.

These are often confused with direct debits, but do not offer the same guarantee if the amount or date of the payment changes.

.

In most cases, regular payments can be cancelled by telling the company taking the payments.

.

However,

you have the right to cancel them directly with your bank or card issuer by telling it that you have stopped permission for the payments.

Your bank or card issuer must then stop them – it has no right to insist that you agree this first with the company taking the payments.

.

Be aware, though, that you will still be responsible for paying any money that you owe.

and that CANELLING YOUR CARD WILL NOT STOP THE CPA

.

..

.

New june 2013

.

Regulator orders Banks and mutuals to review complaints about not cancelling recurring payments from November 2009.

.

Consumers who have set up a regular payment from their account will now be able to successfully cancel that arrangement

by contacting their card provider, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

.

The FCA has been examining how easy it is for customers to cancel Continuous Payment Authorities (CPAs)

due either to payday lendersicon or for other regular payments such as subscriptions or gymicon memberships.

.

CPAs, which are also commonly called recurring transactions or recurring payments,

are relatively easy to set up but can be hard to cancel, causing problems for consumers trying to manage their finances,the FCA said.

.

Now, following the FCA review of how the largest high street banks and mutuals process requests to cancel CPAs, they have agreed that they will ensure that when

a customer asks for a recurring payment to end, that will be sufficient to cancel the arrangement. They have also confirmed that should a payment go through by

mistake following cancellation by a customer the customer will be refunded immediately.

.

In addition to securing this commitment, the largest banks and mutuals have agreed to review every individual complaint they have received about the non-

cancellation of a CPA and to pay redress where payments have continued to be made despite the customer cancelling the arrangement. This applies to all complaints

since November 2009 when the Financial Services Authority, the FCA’s predecessor, began regulating banking conduct.

.

Clive Adamson, the FCA’s director of supervision, said: “It’s important that consumers are confident that banks are meeting their everyday banking needs. Today

customers can be confident that when they ask for a Continuous Payment Authority to be cancelled – it will be cancelled - and that it can be done easily.

.

“We recognise that historically this is an area where some customers have struggled but the banks and mutuals have responded positively to our work on this issue.

From now on we expect them to be getting this right. In addition, they have committed to review past complaints.”

.

.

Also mentioned your displeasure that as whomever took your money had obviously attempted this many times

probably activating your banks own anti fraud software - nobody had the decency to inform my you this was going on.?

.

.In the FSA's own words:

.

..

What should I do about a payment from my account that I didn’t authorise?

.

Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction.

Money can only be taken from your account if you have authorised the transaction

or if your bank can prove you were at fault –

.

see below.

Contact your bank immediately if you notice an unauthorised payment from your account.

.

If you are sure you did not authorise the payment, you can claim a refund.

.

However, your bank does not have to refund you if you do not tell it about the payment until 13 months

or more after the date it left your account.

.

Your bank must refund an unauthorised transaction

.

------------------

.

Your bank may only refuse a refund for an unauthorised transaction if:

.

? it can prove you authorised the transaction

– though your bank cannot simply say that use of your password,

card and PIN proves you authorised a payment; or

.

? it can prove you are at fault because you acted fraudulently,

or because you deliberately,

or with gross negligence, failed to protect the details of your card, PIN or password in a way that allowed the transaction

.

-----------------------

.

How quickly must my bank refund me for an unauthorised transaction?

.

The bank must make the refund immediately unless it has evidence that one of the above reasons applies.

Your bank may ask you to answer some questions and fill out a form confirming what has happened,

but it cannot delay your refund while it waits for you to return the form.

If the bank has evidence that one of the above reasons for refusing a refund applies,

it may investigate before making a refund

but must look into it as quickly as possible.

If your bank rejects your claim for a refund it should explain why.

If the transaction was on a credit card, the refund may not happen immediately.

But the card issuer cannot charge interest or ask for repayment of the amount unless it can prove you are liable to pay

[BazzaS]

 

My husband took out a tastecard for £1 for 3 months.

 

We've just been charged 39.99 renewal which we don't want.

 

TBH we didn't realise it was due and my husband rarely looks at his email.

 

.......

 

Is there anything we can do?

 

It depends.

 

How quickly must my bank refund me for an unauthorised transaction?

.

The bank must make the refund immediately unless it has evidence that one of the above reasons applies.

Your bank may ask you to answer some questions and fill out a form confirming what has happened,

but it cannot delay your refund while it waits for you to return the form.

If the bank has evidence that one of the above reasons for refusing a refund applies,

it may investigate before making a refund

but must look into it as quickly as possible.

If your bank rejects your claim for a refund it should explain why.

If the transaction was on a credit card, the refund may not happen immediately.

But the card issuer cannot charge interest or ask for repayment of the amount unless it can prove you are liable to pay

 

The bank may be able to show the transaction was unwanted ...... but not unathorised.

Alternatively, tastecard may be able to show they are owed the £39.99 (if the bank does go through with the chargeback, and the bank then does not ask for repayment).

 

In the end it will come down to if there was a binding contract for the renewal.

 

When I took out a £1, 3 month trial the terms were made very clear: that it would auto-renew.

It seems that way, currently, too.

https://www.tastecard.co.uk/purchase/join/promo:PPCWINTER

and relevant part attached as a .pdf

 

 

Checking on their website, for the free, 30-day trial is much less clear, and states "no strings attached".

http://www.tastecard.co.uk/trial/headertry

again, relevant part attached as a .pdf3-month-tastecard.pdf

 

Both sites have (the same) "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of the page.

 

I'd argue that the T's &C's aren't prominent enough (LJ Denning's 'red hand pointing to red ink') for them to be binding for any auto-renew at the end of the free 30 day trial, a) if they do in fact auto-renew that one, and b) if there isn't a subsequent prominent warning of it auto-renewing.

 

However, I think there is sufficient warning for the £1, 3-month trial, assuming your husband got the notification (that I saw previously, and that still shows on their website today), provided the usual contract law requirements are met (so that he is over 18, is competent to agree a contract, and so on ; which seems likely here).

 

My experience was that tastecard made it pretty clear it would auto-renew ; if that is the case for you (and he forgot to cancel, rather than they hid the fact it would auto-renew), then I think you may have any chargeback reversed by the bank, or if not reversed, tastecard would be entitled to pursue you for the £39.99 ....

 

Did he tick the box noting that he agreed the terms that it would auto-renew?

30-day-tastecard.pdf

[Jabloom]

He probably did tick the box, he can't remember as was over 3 months ago. He said in all honesty unless it clearly says he doesn't read the terms and conditions.

I've just read through it as well and I can only find one small section that says it's £39.99 to renew, so again I think this is wrong as it doesn't clearly state that you will be charged £39.99 at the end of the £1 trial. If my husband had seen that he would have cancelled it straight away

[BazzaS]

He probably did tick the box, he can't remember as was over 3 months ago. He said in all honesty unless it clearly says he doesn't read the terms and conditions.

I've just read through it as well and I can only find one small section that says it's £39.99 to renew, so again I think this is wrong as it doesn't clearly state that you will be charged £39.99 at the end of the £1 trial. If my husband had seen that he would have cancelled it straight away

 

"Unless it clearly says" !. You and he both seem to have missed it .......

 

Reposting it as text, in case the link I gave wasn't working, and the image I uploaded wasn't clear, it clearly says (on the page where you have to tick the box, AND between where you have to choose your payment method, and the box that has to be ticked ....) :

"Terms and conditions

 

By joining tastecard Diners' Club, I understand that my membership is an ongoing subscription service and will automatically renew on the expiry date shown on my tastecard for an annual fee of £39.99. I understand that I can cancel at any time in accordance with the Terms and Conditions, and that my membership will continue to renew towards the end of each subsequent term until it is cancelled in accordance with the Terms and Conditions. I agree to inform tastecard if any of my contact details change.

 

By continuing with your order you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the full Terms and Conditions of tastecard membership."

 

Sorry to be blunt, but the T's and C's are hard to miss, and it seems more likely than not that he ticked the box (given that he isn't denying it, that he can't remember, that it was their requirement about 4 months ago that you had to 'tick' to proceed, and that it is their requirement currently).

More likely than not is the standard of proof required in civil law.

 

Although you say "I've just read through it as well and I can only find one small section that says it's £39.99 to renew, so again I think this is wrong as it doesn't clearly state that you will be charged £39.99 at the end of the £1 trial." ; it seems both clear (and prominent enough) to me.

I'm all for "standing up for consumer rights" where a firm has tried to be sneaky, but I don't think tastecard have been sneaky here.

No doubt they do rely on people not cancelling to generate some of their income ; but they aren't being underhand or less than open about it!.

Him saying "I don't read the small print, I (probably) just ticked the box (if I ticked it at all)" won't persuade a court ... if they decide he ticked the box (and they will!), they'll then decide if the term was prominent enough to be binding.

 

The term is clearly stated : I doubt tastecard would have any difficulty persuading a court there was a binding contract. No doubt that isn't what you want to hear (in the same way you seem to want to hear that they 'hid away' the £39.99 auto-renewal?), but it is how I see contract law being applied to what you have described.

 

So, go for the chargeback. The bank should grant it but may reverse it once they investigate.

 

If the bank reverse it, you could threaten Tastecard with a claim in the small claims track of the County Court claim, but I can't see you having any reasonable prospect of success, so they'd probably ignore such a bluff.

 

If the bank don't reverse the chargeback, you'd have to see what tastecard do.

If they send a letter threatening a County Court claim I'd suggest re-paying them the £39.99, else if they issue a claim you'd get lumbered with both the £39.99 and the issue fee. Their T's & C's don't mention them being able to add on any other fees for non-payment.

[ericsbrother]

no box to tick , it is called inertial selling. they say you jave agreed to this unless you do somehting about it. This is an unfair contracts clause, you should expect to have to opt in, not out but many organisations rely on it to collect membership fees and the like or they would be in financial trouble because they are actually rubbish at what they purport to do and no one would rejoin each year (remember readers digest?).

[Jabloom]

I called the bank and they have said I have to wait 15 days from when they took it before the bank can open a dispute. They have said because we were contracted i.e. We signed up for the £1 membership for 3 months therefore it's a dispute about a continuing contract.

 

Eric's brother I agree, we should have to opt out only opt in. TBH a lot of people don't read the terms and conditions fully at least as they are normally full of jargon. Most company will slow you to cancel and refund you too but tastecard are being stubborn and not allowing a refund.

[dx100uk]

just the same little spoof as these face cream guys do

just make SURe that you instruct your bank NOW

by phone to cancel the CPA [continuous payment authority.

that way they cant get any money

your bank will wriggle that they cant do that

but as you've already highlighted they MUST under FCA rules cancel it or be liable themselves for a complaint to the FCA.

 

 

if you need to

quote the relevant bit from post 2

[Jabloom]

They've cancelled ongoing cpa but said they can't return (dispute) the £39.99 until the 15th day after the money was taken. So I can't dispute it until 18th January. If this was a direct debit they would return it straight away but because they've used the card number won't return it. Ah.